Now for a fun game. How many of these measures have been implemented in Darlington?

Priority for cyclists at traffic lights? No. There still isn’t a single Advanced Stop Line in the whole town. At some tucan crossings in town which are not signalised (i.e. not synchronised with other lights to promote traffic flow) there are very long waits when there’s no reason they couldn’t change straight away.

Make a town impossible to traverse by car (segmentation)? No. Though it is impossible to traverse by bike, if you still to “safe” routes.

Providing good and safe bicycle routes? There are now some safe cycle routes (such as the ETC, the Riverside Route, the black path) but they often require indirect routes, have missing sections, require dangerous road crossings, are ungritted in winter or have long sections which would feel unsafe in the dark.

Improve accessibility of schools for cyclists in comparison to motorists? Increasing the numbers of children travelling to schools by bike has been one of the major successes in Darlington. However, this has been through soft measures like bike training, reward schemes and easy infrastructure like covered bike parking. I don’t know of any schools where measures have been put in place to actually make it easier to get to a school by bike than by car.

Decrease number of parking places? Not in public car parks, though I think new building schemes have had the parking spaces limited. There are several resident only parking schemes around the town centre periphery.

Parking at a fee/higher parking fees? The hourly parking charge has recently increased in council car parks, though parking is free after 9pm, all day parking is still very cheap and the 3 for 2 offer is, I think, still running.

Maintenance of bicycle parking facilities? What bike parking facilities? There are some sheffield stands scattered about, but parking when quickly calling in to the town centre or visiting a school or other building is still very poor.

Free/high-quality bicycle parking? See above. Also, where is the secure parking for commuters to the town centre?

Delivery services? Pretty much all the supermarkets offer deliveries for internet shopping, and some offer the chance to have shopping bought in store delivered. Is there scope for an enterprising person to offer a drop-off point in the town centre for people to leave their shopping and then deliver it later in the day?

Promote independent cycling by children? There has been a lot of promotion of cycling to school, but is there any to encourage children to cycle to their friends’ houses, to after school clubs or the cinema? If they did, would there be secure parking available or safe, legal routes?

Have I missed any brilliant schemes? Car use in Darlington has supposedly fallen, but how much of that is down to the recession or limited to the school run? How much more could it be reduced with the above methods?

On Monday one of the project’s researchers will be meeting Dr. Reinhard Loske, Bremen’s Senator for the Environment, Europe and Transport, to discuss his work on improving Bremen’s already good cycling infrastructure.

He also appears in the following video, advocating speed limits for Germany’s motorway network. In fact, he is imposing these speed limits on all the motorways in Bremen State anyway.

In Germany, motorways without speed limits is gospel. Like America’s freedom to bear weapons, the vast majority of Germans see fast driving on motorways as sacrosanct. Dr. Loske is not exactly the establishment’s favourite politician, limiting their god-given freedom to burn fuel. But he understands when it’s necessary to confront national orthodoxy – to rebel. Even when this means taking on the most powerful political lobby in Germany, the car industry.

Our own “national orthodoxy”, as far as transport is concerned, also revolves around the car. To deny our citizens their god-given right to drive the kids 500 yards to school, to the shops, or to the local office, is not only too much for our politicians, but “corridors of certainty” are required to make the trip faster, easier, and more direct.

Heaven forbid the idea that we might disrupt this sacred tarmac by taking a square inch of road space away from the car to construct safe cycle paths. The only space available for such fanciful stuff round here seems to be pavements. If there is a definition of the political rebel that we need here in Darlington, it is the politician brave enough to state the obvious – road space, especially on our main roads, needs to be taken from cars.

The local authority have successfully encouraged many Darlingtonians to switch from car to bicycle. But a cursory count on the streets of the town will tell you that, unlike we seasoned cyclists, these beginners are very often seen on our pavements. The main roads are clearly regarded as just too dangerous.

Our “national orthodoxy” reaction to this, of course, is to curse and scream at those wicked cyclists – and we all know how easily this attitude spreads to include all cyclists. But the brave politician, the politician willing to reflect and understand, must rebel against this orthodoxy, defend cyclists, and state the obvious conclusion. These new cyclists need proper infrastructure.

So until the day we hear this on our own transport agenda, lets celebrate the art of political rebellion, German style.

…and by the way, we hope to invite Dr. Loske to Darlington in the future.

Darlington Cycling Campaign’s policy of a 20mph speed limit for the town is a step closer to becoming reality.

Proposals to bring down speed limits in areas of Britain where there is a higher risk of accidents have been announced by the government.

Reductions from 30mph to 20mph in urban locations and 60mph to 50mph in the countryside are being considered.

Road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick said the way people learn to drive and are tested is also set for reform.

The plans are part of a new strategy to reduce road deaths in England, Scotland and Wales by one-third by 2020.

Places such as Newcastle, Portsmouth, Oxford and Leicester already use 20mph speed limits in residential areas, and other local councils will be given new guidance to cut speed limits in residential areas and outside schools.

Darlington Borough Council have been introducing 20mph zones in selected residential areas, but have been hampered by a “can’t do” mentality amongst local professionals, who for example cite the need for regular signage and speed bumps as a barrier to the wider use of 20mph.

According to research bureau CE it is much more effective to reduce CO2 by improving bicycle infrastructure than by investing in a better flow of motor vehicles. It is however unknown how much CO2 benefit bicycle measures would provide. Therefore effects should be better monitored.

The CE-study ‘Minder emissies door investeren in infrastructuur’ has investigated several options to reduce CO2 emissions. These are measures to improve traffic circulation, change the modal shift and reduce energy use of vehicles. According to CE improving bicycle infrastructure provides the highest return of all ‘mobility measures’ studied.

Investments in (car) infrastructure primarily aimed at improving traffic flow prove to be ineffective in fighting climate change. Improved traffic flow does cause lower emissions per vehicle kilometre but in the long term also an increase in overall traffic, states CE.

A better bicycle infrastructure may contribute to a substantial CO2 reduction according to CE. CE works out that if, for example, bicycle policy in a town results in 2,500 people driving 5 kilometres less a day that would save 1 kilotonne of CO2. The maximum potential for the Netherlands might possibly be in the range of 100 to 250 kilotonnes a year. Improving bicycle infrastructure has many positive side effects on air quality, noise pollution and public health, besides climate effects. Various measures are feasible to improve bicycle friendliness by adapting infrastructure, like:– construction and/or improvement of bicycle parking facilities;– construction of bike paths or e.g. bicycle routes through residential neighbourhoods or town centres, preferably separate from car traffic;– construction of bicycle tunnels;– adjusting traffic lights and adapting priority arrangements at intersections and roundabouts. It is however hard to quantify the potential of these measures as there are insufficient evaluations which quantify the effects of improved bicycle facilities on the decrease in car use, CE states. Better monitoring of the effects on investments in bicycle infrastructure is therefore recommended.

A wealth of information about Dutch cycling initiatives and research available here, the website of Dutch cycling consultancy company Fietsberaad.

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